• by Ray Schultz , June 8, 2021

Thrillist is scheduled to launch a new travel channel for the LGBTQIA+ audience called “We’re Out Here” for Pride month. 

Sponsored by Orbitz, the new platform offers information on how to be prepared, stay safe and have fun while traveling. 

Also, Thrillist is debuting “Small Town Pride” on June 14. It's an initiative that highlights small businesses and outposts that support the community — “from the drag houses of the Southern Delta to the lesbian bars of the Pacific Northwest,” the company says. It is sponsored by American Express.

"We're Out Here" is schedule to kick off shortly thereafter.

Thrillist is the food, drink and travel site popular with Gen Z and millennials.

The new LGBTQIA+ channel “leverages our brand’s local expertise, offers consumers real utility and is inclusive of the entire queer community—not just one demographic within it,” states Meghan Kirsch, Chief Content Officer at Thrillist. 

The channel’s content mission is to “provide more than just a vacation and help forge community, build diverse representation, and ensure that everyone feels safe and welcome to travel as they are,” adds Carey Malloy, Orbitz brand director.

A recent survey founds that LGBTQIA+ consumers are five times more likely to take lifestyle friendliness into account when planning a vacation this year, noted Thrillist and Group Nine.  

It also determined Gen Z consumers are two times more likely to choose a destination based on eco-friendliness.

In general, 65% of consumers are more likely to travel domestically than internationally, and 88% are willing to spend the same or more money on travel than they did prior to the pandemic.

Thrillist and Group Nine surveyed over 1,500 consumers.